


Haven't you heard what becomes of curious minds?

by Killaurey



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Female Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:27:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25682008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Killaurey/pseuds/Killaurey
Summary: AU. The night before they're assigned to Genin teams, Sakura wakes up with Ino in her mind—and she can't leave.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 63





	1. Red

**Author's Note:**

> This prologue is short--future chapters will be longer.

_Forehead, wake up!_  
  
Sakura jerks awake and, tangled in her sheets thanks to her nightly war against them, she tumbles out of bed in an undignified heap.  
  
Ino's laughter rings in her head.  
  
"Shut up, Pig!" Sakura snaps back, automatically, as she tries to escape her bedding. As far as retorts go, it comes out rather muffled.  
  
_You look like you need help!_  
  
Of course, Ino doesn't help her. Irritated even further, Sakura grumbles under her breath until she, at last, manages to yank herself free. Rumpled, Sakura clambers to her feet, ready to give Ino a piece of her mind.  
  
Only to pause as she realizes that Ino isn't actually in her room. Her window is still shut, the curtains pulled tight, all her traps in place. Her door is shut, no light coming from under the door—thank goodness, that means her mom hadn't been woken by her flailing around—there's no one under her bed or in her closet or behind her standing mirror.  
  
Even Ino's laughter has faded.  
  
Goosebumps spread down her arms. "Ino?" she says quietly, hugging herself tightly. "Ino, this isn't funny."  
  
_It's a little funny,_ Ino says, because yes, she would.  
  
This time, Sakura is awake and aware enough to recognize that Ino's voice is coming from inside her head.  
  
"What are you doing?!" Sakura hisses, irritation coming roaring back. "Did you wake me up for some stupid prank? You won't get Sasuke-kun because I'm sleep-deprived, you know!"  
  
The only reason she keeps her voice down is because of her mom. Otherwise, she'd be shouting. As it is, she knows her face has gone red and her hands are clenched. For all the rivalry between them, this is a new low! Ino has never infringed on her at night before, and Sakura wouldn't even dare, not when Ino's dad is a Jounin.  
  
_He's the best one!_ Ino says, with pride. _Also what do you mean 'sleep-deprived'? It's barely past eleven!_  
  
"We go to sleep early in this house," Sakura grits out. "Get out of my head and let me get back to bed. In case you've forgotten, Pig, we get assigned teams tomorrow."  
  
Ino sighs.  
  
"And," Sakura continues spitefully, "I'll be on a team with Sasuke-kun, not you."  
  
_Forehead,_ Ino says, her inner voice weirdly flat and unreadable. _This isn't a prank. I need you to find my dad right away._  
  
Sakura blinks. Then squints.  
  
"Why can't you find him?" she demands. "Can't you just, like, stick your head out of your bedroom and holler? Or, I don't know, wave at him with your mind? I can't leave my house, are you crazy? My mom will kill me!"  
  
_Sakura_ —  
  
"Don't you 'Sakura' me!" Sakura says fiercely. "You haven't told me anything! We haven't spoken in ages and now you come here, in the middle of the night, _in my head_ and tell me to go find your dad! What's going on?"  
  
_I can't leave your head,_ Ino says hurriedly. _Also your head is super weird, Forehead. Did you know you've got a second you in here?_  
  
"That's beside the point," Sakura snaps. "Don't try to distract me!"  
  
_Can we please just go find my dad?_ Ino sounds tired and, underneath that, a little scared.  
  
That, more than anything, makes Sakura calm her temper. Ino is never, ever scared of anything. Not of bugs, not of boys, not even when the boys are bigger and stronger than her.  
  
But she's scared now.  
  
It makes their rivalry feel small and petty and makes Sakura's stomach twists. Ino may not be her best friend any longer, but she's still… Ino.  
  
Despite herself, Sakura can't quite turn away from that.  
  
"What's wrong?" Sakura says, even as she dumps her blankets back on her bed, knowing that if she lumps them up her mom will think she's in the middle of them. "Look, I'm going to get in so much trouble doing this. You have to give me something to work with."  
  
_I don't really know what happened_ , Ino admits, though Sakura has the feeling that Ino is trying to pick her words carefully. _I've never done out-of-body without taking over the body and using a jutsu to do it. I panicked._  
  
"You panicked because of a jutsu going wrong?" Sakura asks, stripping out of her jammies and wiggling into a pair of shorts and grabbing one of her dresses out of her closet. "And your dad will need to see me to put you back in your body?"  
  
Sakura doesn't know very much about Ino's Clan jutsu—or Ino's Clan in general; Ino had always been secretive about that—but she can imagine how such a thing going wrong would be… scary.  
  
"What were you doing with a jutsu this late anyway?" Sakura asks, brushing her hair. The simple motion makes both her and Ino feel better. Sakura is surprised to notice it but, while Ino's fear remains in the back of Sakura's throat like the tang of blood, it's less… fraught, now.  
  
She's never felt Ino's emotions like this before.  
  
_It's not that late,_ Ino says. _I wasn't doing any jutsu. I was working on my flowering arranging. We've been getting too many orders for Dad to keep up with lately._  
  
Sakura frowns. "How does that wind up with you stuck in my head? There's no plants that cause out of body… experiences…, are there?"  
  
Ino's laughter tastes a bit like apples. It's weird.  
  
_There's plenty of plants that do that,_ she says. _But I wasn't working on any of them. Most of them aren't good for arrangements anyway. They either smell bad or look ugly and no one wants that on their tables or anywhere._  
  
"What _happened?_ " Sakura repeats, leaning over to flick her lamp on, to check her hair before leaving. She straightens and gasps.  
  
Ino stares back at her from the mirror, and Ino's next copper-fear-laden words are like a slap of cold water to her face.  
  
_I'm pretty sure I died._


	2. Sky Blue

Ino's words echo in her head for a long moment as Sakura tries to process that.  
  
She fails.  
  
"You _what?!_ " she gasps, not caring about the volume. "You did not! There's no _way._ "  
  
_I wouldn't lie about that!_ Ino says, sounding aggrieved. _It wasn't my idea!_  
  
"There's no way that you're dead," Sakura insists, turning away from Ino's expression in the mirror. She can't stand it and, well, the mirror isn't going to help her with her appearance now. She's sure to look a fright.  
  
Ino _can't_ be dead.  
  
For one, how could Ino still be talking to her?  
  
For another… Sakura isn't willing to think about the rest too hard, just that Ino, both as her friend and as her rival, has always been the prettier one, the stronger one, the better one, like a heroine out of some tale.  
  
Heroines don't die before their stories ever get going.  
  
_Wow,_ Ino says, sounding somewhat stunned. _Seriously, Sakura?_  
  
Sakura flushes, realizing, belatedly, that Ino would have heard _all of that_. She wishes she knew a jutsu or five to sink into the floor and disappear--but that wouldn't help her, not with Ino in her head.  
  
"Sakura?" her mom calls. "Is everything okay, sweetheart?"  
  
There are about a million things that aren't okay and most of them are (literally) in her head. Sakura swallows convulsively. The last thing she needs is her mom coming in.  
  
"I'm fine, Mom!" she calls quickly, hoping her mom hadn't heard any of the details about what Sakura had been saying. "Just tripped while getting a glass of water! Sorry for waking you up!"  
  
"It's alright, darling," her mom says. "Just try to be quieter next time, would you?"  
  
"Of course! Night, Mom!"  
  
"Good night, Sakura."  
  
Sakura holds her breath, listening with all her might for the sounds of her mom going back to--  
  
_She's just laid back down,_ Ino says helpfully. _She's not likely to remember any of this in the morning--more than half-asleep the whole time as it was._  
  
Taking a deep breath, Sakura counts to five then says, quietly, "Can you please not look into my mom's head?"  
  
She can _feel_ Ino's unrepentant shrug.  
  
_We really do need to go find my dad though,_ Ino says unapologetically. _The sooner the better, I think._  
  
Pursing her lips, Sakura considers the creaky staircase she'd have to sneak down without waking her mom. Out the window is much, much quieter, but they're on the third floor and there's no easy access balcony for her to leap onto.  
  
And leaving a rope hanging from her window is just asking for people to discover it and ask questions…  
  
_If you channel chakra to your legs you can absorb most of the impact from the jump,_ Ino says helpfully.  
  
Sakura's eyes narrow. "They didn't tell us that in class."  
  
_It's more advanced than what they tell us in class,_ Ino says, without rancor. _But you were always good at the chakra exercises. Bet you can do it. Come on, take the leap of faith._  
  
Faith in who, Sakura wonders. In herself? Or in Ino?  
  
"Just channel it into my legs?" she checks.  
  
_That's right,_ Ino says. _Also, your mom is asleep again. Honestly, I don't think she was ever really awake to begin with, you know what I mean?_  
  
Sakura bites her tongue and tries not to think about Ino poking around other peoples' heads. Maybe it was just, like, some sort of general awareness of who was aware and who wasn't. That wouldn't be so bad, she supposes.  
  
Ino doesn't offer her opinion on that.  
  
Shaking her head, Sakura double checks her bedding, to make sure it looks like she's sleeping, touches her fingers to the small peridot pendant that hangs from her headboard for luck and confirmation that she's not going mad, and then pulls her curtains back and unlocks the window.  
  
Peering down at the ground below, Sakura gulps. It looks terribly far, but she knows that ninja leap and jump distances far greater than that all the time.  
  
_You'll do fine_ , Ino says, breaking into her anxious thoughts. _This plays to your strengths, remember? You're first in the class for chakra manipulation--ahead of even Hinata-chan! And she's a Hyuuga._  
  
That's true. It's probably only true because while Sakura is a bundle of insecurities, Hinata's really no better and she's much shyer on top of it.  
  
"Just… let me think," Sakura says, checking her chakra levels.  
  
Silence answers her, which she supposes is Ino's way of letting her think.  
  
Sakura takes another look outside, glances back at her door, and then carefully channels chakra to her feet. No, she doesn't hop out the window right away--three floors down! What if she did it wrong? What if she messed up so badly she went splat and they found her, in the morning, all gross and stringy, finding that her blood had melt--  
  
_Seriously? That's what you wanted me to shut up for? So you could panic?_  
  
"No," Sakura hisses, glad of the interruption. (Sakura has never claimed to be consistent.) "I'm practicing."  
  
Ino's silence is _distinctly_ dubious.  
  
Sakura grits her teeth, ignores her as best she can (not very) and focuses.  
  
_I wish,_ Ino says helpfully. _But wishes aren't going to change facts. Just like they never made you a princess or found you a prince, Forehead!_  
  
"You're just jealous that Sasuke-kun isn't _your_ prince either!" Sakura protests, though on reflection she's not quite sure that it makes sense as a retort.  
  
Before Ino can notice (Ino has probably already noticed) Sakura clambers up onto her window sill and, with a prayer, she flings herself out of it. There's a few seconds of exhilarating terror and then--she hits the ground. Her knees and ankles flex to catch her and her chakra absorbs the impact that her body wouldn’t be able to take.  
  
Sakura glances back up at her open window as Ino radiates proprietary pride in the back of her head. No easy way to close the window right now.  
  
"Is this how the older ninja jump so high?" she wonders. "And run for so long?"  
  
_A lot of it is conditioning. Stopping to rest isn't always an option and chakra isn't infinite. So a lot of ninja won't waste chakra on reinforcement for running and jumping outside of a battle. But in a pinch? Chakra will definitely work well._  
  
Sakura releases her chakra and experimentally steps again, almost amused to feel the full force of her weight against her foot as she pushes against the street.  
  
"Why don't they teach us this sort of thing in the Academy?" Sakura asks, heading down the street at a brisk clip. She doesn't run--that would get too much attention thrown her way--but she doesn't saunter either.  
  
Now, with a disembodied rival stuck in her head probably isn't the best time for lessons but, at the same time, it gives Sakura something solid, something real to think about and it keeps Ino from feeling quite so horribly, terribly afraid in the back of her mind too.  
  
_And Iruka-sensei always says to take lessons where you can get them!_ Sakura thinks virtuously.  
  
If Ino hears that, she gives no sign of it.  
  
_Because most of our classmates can't do it,_ Ino says. _It takes more control than most fresh genin have. Your control is very, very good. Even I can't deny that._  
  
Sakura mulls over that as she ducks between streets and crosses the first of three bridges needed to get to Ino's place. "Can _you_ do it?" She frowns slightly. "Who else can do it?"  
  
_Do I have to list everyone in the village that can?_ Ino asks dryly.  
  
"Don't be stupid," Sakura mutters, wishing she'd thought to grab a sweater. It's not cold out but she'd appreciate the comfort of one all the same. "I meant in our class--who can do it out of our class?"  
  
Ino laughs.  
  
Despite herself, and all the things she doesn't want to think about, Sakura smiles slightly too.  
  
_Okay, fine. Yes, I can. Shikamaru and Chouji can too, though Shikamaru would deny it and Chouji only knows for clan jutsu reasons--his control outside of that is pretty shaky. Hinata-chan probably knows how. Other than that, I'm not sure. Probably Aburame, but I don't know him very well._  
  
Sakura can't help but notice that she's the only first generation shinobi in that short, short list. Also, and this throws her for a loop-- "Sasuke-kun isn't on there?"  
  
_His control is probably good enough for it,_ Ino admits. _But it's… not like he's had anyone to teach him outside of class. So I'd guess he doesn't know._  
  
"Oh. That's… that's pretty sad."  
  
_He can still learn!_  
  
"No," Sakura says, "I mean… that he doesn't have anyone at home to teach him things. I mean, I knew that, but…"  
  
She hadn't ever really thought about it that way. It seems sadder, when looked at like that. No squabbles over supper, no laughter, no borrowing books or doing chores or going shopping with anyone.  
  
"He must be so lonely," she realizes. It makes her want to cry.  
  
Ino sighs. _He'll get over it,_ she says, with shocking arrogance. _He's an Uchiha. They're made of sterner stuff than you._  
  
This is probably true. Sakura isn't tough.  
  
"That doesn't mean he's not lonely!"  
  
_It's not like he goes around hoping for company, though, so what is there to do about it?_  
  
Sakura comes to a dead stop. "Who are you and what have you done with Ino?!" she demands. "Ino would never be so cruel about Sasuke-kun!"  
  
_Not to his face I wouldn't,_ Ino says. _But, Sakura, why do you think he lives all on his own anyway?_  
  
She scowls. "Because his family's _dead_."  
  
_Right. But why hasn't anyone taken him in?_ Ino asks. _The last Uchiha. We were all pretty young when his family was killed. Yet he's been left all alone. Why, Sakura? Is the whole village mean?_  
  
Sakura has no good answer for that, not at only eleven. It just seems wrong, now that she's thinking about it, but it had never seemed wrong before.  
  
_Is Hagane-san at the bubble tea café mean? Or Mitsutada-san at the book shop? They haven't helped Sasuke-kun either…_  
  
"No," Sakura says quietly. "They're the nicest people I know."  
  
More than once they've given her a discount when they haven't needed to and she knows she's not the only one they 'ring up the wrong number' for by 'accident' when it looks like a customer might not be able to afford full price.  
  
But Ino's right. They've never done anything special for Sasuke-kun just because he has no parents.  
  
_Why hasn't anyone done anything?_ Sakura asks, this time keeping quiet as a woman walks by with her dog.  
  
She gets the impression that Ino is shrugging. _He's the last Uchiha,_ Ino says, like that explains everything. _No one else could take him in. Not with the clan baggage. Civilians get adopted, Sakura. Shinobi clan orphans have to figure it out on their own. Either you get good or you wash out._  
  
"Sasuke-kun would _never_ wash out!" she says fiercely.  
  
_I didn't say he would!_ Ino retorts, sounding offended. Sakura has the impression that Ino is rolling her eyes. Or possibly tossing her hair. Or both, just to emphasize the point being made here. _I'm just saying that's why no one has helped him! He's got to prove he's good on his own! That's just how it works!_  
  
"It shouldn't have to be! He… he should be able to do something fun _every day!_ "  
  
"Excuse me, Miss?"  
  
Sakura whips around to find an old man far, far too close to her for comfort for all that he smiles benignly at her.  
  
"Is there anything the matter?" he asks, reaching out to touch her.  
  
Sakura jerks her shoulder away, uncertain if it's her or Ino who feels more revulsion. The disdain is definitely Ino's though. Sakura has never before realized how little Ino thinks of most civilians.  
  
Of course, she's never had Ino _in her head_ before either. Sakura supposes it's much harder to filter out thoughts and opinions when they're like this than when they're just… talking.  
  
Or squabbling.  
  
_Tell him to piss off,_ Ino orders. _Creepy civilian men can leave us alone._  
  
_We're only temporarily an us!_ Sakura shoots back, very nearly on auto-pilot as she stammers something incoherent but polite at the man that doesn't make him go away at all. It is deeply, bitterly tragic. _And I can't be rude!_  
  
Though as he reaches out to touch her shoulder again, she's desperately tempted to be rude.  
  
_You're a kunoichi!_ Ino shrieks. _You can be rude to civilians all you want when they're bothering you!_  
  
"Shut _up!_ " Sakura shouts. "Leave me alone!"  
  
The man recoils but only briefly, even though Sakura hadn't been talking to him.  
  
"Miss," he says, "there's been a misunderstanding—"  
  
"Oh! Just—excuse me!" Sakura says and takes the easy way out.  
  
She bolts.  
  
It's too bad she can't run away from Ino too but Ino is still there, a snippy presence in the back of her mind.  
  
_I don't like being rude,_ Sakura says, careful to keep it sub-vocal this time, her voice half-apologetic, once she's run far enough away from the man that she no longer feels like her skin is going to crawl off her skeleton.  
  
_Protecting yourself is the best time to be rude,_ Ino says, though her voice is mild. Carefully so. _If you can't protect yourself, Sakura, how will you ever protect your clients when you're hired as a shinobi?_  
  
That's... actually a good point, even though she bristles a bit at the implication that she'd ever let a client down during a mission. For a client, she'd of course do anything she could to--  
  
_Then why don't you want to do that for yourself?_ Ino asks, sounding genuinely curious and puzzled in about equal measures. _Have you ever heard of the principal of looking after yourself first?_  
  
_No,_ Sakura admits, as she turns down another street. They're getting close to Ino's house and she's honestly dreading it. She doesn't want to see Ino, dead, even if Ino is in her head with her.  
  
Ino's her rival but that doesn't mean Sakura has ever wished her dead.  
  
She's always and will always love Ino for having given her a ribbon, having taught her how to pick herself up. That doesn't mean they aren't rivals though--she's going to kick Ino's ass one day.  
  
And she can't if Ino's dead.  
  
(She doesn't want Ino to be dead.)  
  
_Okay,_ Ino says, after a pause. _Basically, the idea is that in order to take care of anyone else, you've got to look after yourself first. If you can't take care of yourself, how could you ever be trusted to look after anyone else?_  
  
_I suppose so,_ Sakura says doubtfully. _But a lot of times it's easier to do something for other people than it is for yourself. People thank you or pay you or reward you. You can't really thank yourself._  
  
_Why not?_ Ino challenges. _There's a lot to be thankful for every day! Are you happy when you get a good mark on a test? Aren't you thankful to yourself for having studied enough to get that mark?_  
  
_I guess so,_ Sakura says. _I never really thought about it._  
  
As she reaches the street that Yamanaka Flowers is on, Sakura crosses her arms defensively over her chest. It's not quite a hug, but it helps a little. Her feet move a bit slower with each step, even though she knows she's got to keep going now that she's come this far.  
  
Or else Ino will be stuck in her head _forever_.  
  
_You should be honoured I'm stuck in your head,_ Ino says haughtily.  
  
_I'm not._  
  
She'd rather be back in her bed, sleeping away the night before she finds out if destiny has smiled on her and placed her on Sasuke-kun's team!  
  
This _wasn't in the plan!_  
  
_This wasn't in my plan either,_ Ino points out.  
  
Sakura stops outside of Yamanaka Flowers. All of the lights are off, not even the ones above the ground floor shop. She knows that Ino and her dad live in the apartment above.  
  
_You weren't at home?_  
  
There's the impression of Ino shaking her head, the faintest brush of ghostly hair brushing against the inside of her skull.  
  
Sakura shivers. That's creepy.  
  
_I was at the greenhouses,_ Ino says. _They're not far from here and we were going in the right direction anyway so..._  
  
And, Sakura realizes, Ino just hadn't wanted to talk about the place where she'd been murdered. Sakura's never been murdered (and what a ridiculous thing to think!) but she can imagine that talking about it would... really, really _suck_.  
  
_Besides,_ Ino says, _you need one of my spare passes._  
  
_A pass?_  
  
_To get through the door,_ Ino explains, which really explains nothing at all. _Come on, the spare key to the shop is under the back door's mat._  
  
Being here reminds her of days when she'd trotted right on in without knocking and bounced up to the apartment above to chatter and giggle with Ino while they studied.  
  
Studying alone is a lot lonelier, even though she's the one that chose to make them rivals.  
  
As she ducks behind the shop, Sakura shakes her head. "This is _so weird_ ," she mutters. "Breaking into your home _while you're in my head_."  
  
Despite everything, that makes Ino giggle a little. _Hey,_ Ino says, _it's not really breaking in if you've got permission._  
  
"Your dad might not feel the same way," Sakura points out, as she lifts the well worn but still colourful mat and scoops up the key. "Besides, this is terrible security. Why would a ninja family hide a spare key under a mat?"  
  
_Why wouldn't we?_ Ino asks.  
  
"Because it's basically the worst place to keep a spare key?"  
  
Ino's laughter still tastes like apples.  
  
_The key won't work for everyone who finds it. It's tuned to certain chakra signatures. Anyone who isn't tuned to the key can find it all they want, it's not going to get them in the door._  
  
Sakura tries the key. It slides in easily, turns just as easily, and she opens the door with a soft click. Inside, the scent of flowers wraps around her like a noose.  
  
"Tuned to the key?" she asks, shutting the door and taking off her sandals before she heads up the stairs to the apartment proper. It's one good thing--she knows the layout without having to turn on any lights. "Wait, Ino, I'm still tuned to it? We've been rivals for more than a year!"  
  
_So?_  
  
Sakura flounders a little, not quite sure how to argue that one-word response. "I mean, it's not like we were talking," she says. "Or that I..."  
  
Was being nice. Or fair. Or anything, really, other than challenging Ino on anything and everything she could think of that would make it easier for Sasuke-kun to notice her, to like her, to want her...  
  
But Ino doesn't bother to answer any of that. Not her spoken words and not the thoughts either.  
  
For the first time, Sakura realizes just how little of her thoughts Ino has actually commented on. It's both disconcerting to be on the receiving end of such careful discretion and rather comforting.  
  
_The passes are in the kitchen, in the drawer by the blender._  
  
"Okay," Sakura says, flicking on the lights as she reaches the top of the stairs. Blinking hard against the sudden brightness, she steps into a kitchen decorated in shades of brown and green. The counters are black, and there's flowers in planters hanging from the windows. A vase of flowers is on the dining table.  
  
Dishes are drying by the sink.  
  
_I was going to put them away when I got home,_ Ino says quietly, barely a whisper.  
  
"Want me to put them away this time?" Sakura offers. "You can do it the next time."  
  
Because there _will_ be a next time. Sakura won't allow anything else.  
  
Ino is quiet for a long moment. In that moment, Sakura ignores the dishes and opens the drawer by the blender. Since the only things in the drawer that she doesn't recognize are flat, narrow rectangles of paper, about the length of her palm, that look like paper, Sakura figures these are the passes.  
  
She picks one up and is a little startled to find that it's harder, shinier, and heavier than paper would be. The pass is eggshell white with a swirl of green flecked with gold that bleeds through both sides.  
  
Pocketing it, Sakura shuts the drawer. _Ino? What do you want to do with the dishes?_  
  
_I..._  
  
Sakura waits, trying to keep her thoughts still and quiet so that Ino can make this decision on her own. She's never tried to meditate or anything before, so she's not sure if it works, but...  
  
_Put them away please._  
  
There's nothing warm or happy in Ino's voice.  
  
"Alright," Sakura says.  
  
It's a small chore, easily accomplished, but it's the weirdest one she's ever done with Ino brooding in her head, not saying anything, just feeling too many things--things that Sakura can almost feel, but it's like they're just out of reach leaving her with impressions and little more.  
  
"You'll get to do the dishes over and over again," Sakura says, once she's put them all away, turned the lights off, and is clattering back down the stairs.  
  
It's still so quiet downstairs. Empty.  
  
She knows that the store is always quiet and empty after hours but, right now, it feels like it means more.  
  
"We've got the pass," she says, shifting from foot to foot as she locks the door back up and, after a moment, sticks the key back under the mat. Sakura feels very silly for having to do that. "Point the way."  
  
Ino gives directions, her voice clipped and closed off.  
  
Sakura can't find it in her to take offense to that. For once, she knows good and well that it's not about her.  
  
Ino's right it's not far, though it's in a direction that Sakura's never gone before, having no reason to go through a primarily residential district to reach the wall.  
  
The wall itself looms over her and in this area, there's almost no traffic at all, leaving Sakura feeling like she's in a ghost town. The only one...  
  
_Don't even finish that sentence._  
  
"Sorry, Ino," Sakura says, embarrassed. "I didn't mean--"  
  
_The door's twelve feet to the right._  
  
Feeling that it's better to just follow those directions, Sakura does so. The wall in front of her looks like the rest of the wall. Reaching out to touch it confirms that it's as solid as the rest too. "What do I do?"  
  
_Take the pass and press it flat against the wall,_ Ino directs. _It doesn't matter which side of the pass you use. But don't linger too long, like you don't know what you're doing, or else the guards will come talk to you even if you've got a pass._  
  
"I _don't_ know what I'm doing," Sakura mutters, fishing the pass out of her pocket nonetheless and slapping it against the wall. She doesn't want to talk to the guard Chuunin any more than Ino does.  
  
The pass adheres to the wall and shifts into a the shape of a doorknob.  
  
Sakura doesn't need to ask what to do this time and just grabs the doorknob (it still feels like the pass, which she supposes makes sense), turns it, and with a second to decide push or pull, pushes the door open.  
  
It opens and Sakura steps through before she gets a good look at what she's stepping into. The door shuts behind her and she has to scramble to catch the pass before it hits the ground.  
  
She manages, but just barely.  
  
Tucking it back in her pocket, she looks around. They're on a small, unpaved path, with trees dangling their branches menacingly in the air above them. She can't see the sky.  
  
She's never left the village before and goosebumps trail down her arms.  
  
"Where are we?"  
  
_Stay on the path,_ Ino says. _We're in the Nara's forests. As long as we're on the path, you'll be fine. The greenhouses aren't much further._  
  
"Why are your greenhouses in the Nara Clan's forests?" Sakura asks, heading down the path and resisting the urge to look up. It's so dark here, but the path remains visible, just barely, despite that. "Why can I see the path?"  
  
It doesn't make sense.  
  
_We've got an agreement with the Nara Clan,_ Ino says. _And the path is visible because of what it's made of. I don't really know much about what's in the dirt mixture, but the Nara use it when they want light that won't disrupt the shadows too much._  
  
"Why would the Nara know about how to light up dirt?"  
  
_They're a clan of shadow masters--why wouldn't they have also worked on mastering light? It's two sides of the same coin._  
  
The greenhouses come into sight, visible mostly because they're square and nothing else is in the forest. Sakura's footsteps slow.  
  
"Do we just..."  
  
_I don't think there's a way to be polite about this._  
  
Despite the fact that Ino just sounds quiet, Sakura bristles anyway.  
  
"There's nothing wrong with being polite," she retorts. "Which greenhouse?"  
  
There's several of them, all carefully built so that the canopy of trees above is undisturbed. Sakura wonders how they get enough sunlight to live.  
  
She doesn't ask.  
  
_Second one, on the left._  
  
Inside, the greenhouse is bright as mid-day, in defiance of the darkness outside, and Sakura takes a moment to admire the rows of lights used to accomplish this. She is blatantly stalling for time. After a looking at the lights, she realizes that they're all sunlamps, so it basically _is_ mid-day in this greenhouse, all the time.  
  
She doesn't recognize the plants in here. Sakura turns her head to and fro as she slips down the aisles at Ino's wordless direction, pointing her right.  
  
Ino loves her dad fiercely, wildly, but Sakura has always (privately) considered him to be an aloof, unapproachable man. Even though he had never been anything but friendly to her, there had always been… something.  
  
Sakura didn't know what it was, just that Ino's dad had always quietly been… _apart_ from the few conversations they'd had.  
  
As she and Ino slip into the open workspace where Ino had died, there is nothing of the aloof, distantly kind man in the form keening over… over Ino's body. Her stool is overturned, one arm outstretched. The rest is obscured by Ino's dad's body, his jacket hiding Ino's body from view, and the table Ino had been working at.  
  
Sakura stops mid-step, arrested at the sight.  
  
It's something she shouldn't be watching; she knows this instinctively. His grief is raw, over-whelming, and unfathomable.  
  
Ino's love is fierce, wild, and unreasonable. She has always known this.  
  
Somehow, Sakura has never thought to apply that the other way around.  
  
She waits for Ino to tease her or chide her for that thought, but there's nothing. Just a quiet, hurting, silence. Sakura sets her foot down quietly, not sure what to do. Approaching Ino's dad is out of the question.  
  
Even on a good day, he's a Jounin. Now, out of his mind with grief, she has no wish to startle him. Her nerves couldn't take it.  
  
Her life couldn't take it.  
  
Especially since--she tries not to stare at Ino's outstretched hand, limp and fingers slightly curled, showing off her green nail polish--her life is really both their lives now.  
  
_Ino,_ she thinks, very gently, very quietly, not wanting to startle the grieving Jounin with her mind's voice either. _I think you need to be the one to call out to him._  
  
_I…_  
  
Ino's voice is barely the whisper of a ghost.  
  
_I can't do this for you,_ she says. _What if he thinks it's some form of a cruel joke?_  
  
It would be the worst joke ever told in the history of terrible jokes. It would probably get _both_ her and Ino killed before they managed to clear it up.  
  
_But, I…_  
  
_I know,_ Sakura says, because she can feel Ino's pain and apprehension and grief like waves hitting the shore. _I'm here._  
  
Ino doesn't answer her and Sakura waits, careful to keep her eyes away from Ino's dad, not wanting to intrude more than she is but also unable to leave.  
  
_Where's the rest of your family?_ she wonders. _They'd know by now._  
  
Surely, surely they must have felt it when…  
  
Or maybe not. Sakura isn't really sure how the mind powers of the Yamanaka Clan work.  
  
_They'll be in hiding,_ Ino says, her voice small. _The Clan heir just got m-murdered. Their priority must be to keep the rest of the Clan safe in case someone is deliberately targeting Yamanaka. Dad was just a few greenhouses over, as closest to me, he'd come._  
  
Sakura quietly thinks about how there was no way he wouldn't have come, even if he'd been across the village.  
  
_He won't be alone much longer,_ Ino says.  
  
_What?_  
  
_We're on Nara land. Grief travels._  
  
Sakura doesn't know what to say to that. Her only real conclusion is that they've got to say something now, before the Nara Clan shows up, because will they be _allowed_ to say something once that happens? How will they explain her presence, Ino's rival, here in a private greenhouse that most people can't get to?  
  
She doesn't say anything, since Ino must know all of this just as well.  
  
Ino is a silent, grieving presence. Grieving more for the pain her father is in than her body lying there.  
  
Sakura waits.  
  
_Daddy?_  
  
Ino's first attempt is tiny, quiet, but her dad's head shoots up.  
  
"Ino?" he says incredulously, in a tear-cracked voice.  
  
_Daddy, I'm here! I'm in Sakura! Daddy, I'm scared--_  
  
Yamanaka Inoichi is fast. He moves like a blur. His mind is even faster, wrapping around hers and Ino's and verifying each presence before his arms wrap like a vise around Sakura's body.  
  
He _says_ nothing, just weeps, and all Sakura can feel is his love and gratefulness and, yes, pain as he wraps his mind around Ino's and Ino cries.  
  
Sakura cries too.  
  
It's too much pain for her to do anything but.  
  
And that's when the Nara and Akimichi clans descend upon the greenhouse.


End file.
